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Miguel Camargo To Miss Rest of MLS Season

Miguel Camargo left Panama’s match against Costa Rica last night in a wheelchair. Believed to be a precautionary move, an MRI scan at a local hospital revealed his injury to be severe. Miguel Camargo suffered a non-displaced hip fracture and is expected to be out for three months and miss the rest of the MLS season.

Camargo had been having a fantastic Gold Cup, lauded by pundits as the best player on Panama’s roster. Given his run of form, New York City FC manager Patrick Vieira said he expected Camargo to have a bigger role upon his return from national team duty. His performances were a welcome relief following the news that NYCFC forward Rodney Wallace would be out for a few weeks with an abductor strain. Unfortunately for Vieira, he will have to find another replacement.

Camargo immediately went down in pain after planting his foot awkwardly in the 60th minute.

Who Replaces Miguel Camargo?

Patrick Vieira has a few options when it comes to replacing Camargo and Wallace. In yesterday’s loss to Toronto the manager opted to put Tommy McNamara in that role. Expect to see more of McNamara in the weeks to come now that Camargo is out of action.

Jonathan Lewis, who NYCFC acquired after acquiring the number 3 overall SuperDraft pick for $250,000 in Allocation Money, has only played 23 minutes this season in two appearances.

Khiry Shelton is a question mark. Shelton has lots of experience playing on the wing, however he was ruled out for 4-6 weeks following an injury against Philadelphia in April. 13 weeks later: he remains training on his own working towards full fitness.

Sean Ugo Okoli would seem like the man most likely to benefit, however Last year’s USL MVP has only seen the pitch 9 times this season. Vieira does not want to deviate from his 4-3-3 formation which features David Villa at the top. Despite Okoli’s best efforts, it is not likely that Vieira will opt to move Villa out of his preferred position at the front of the attack.

With both Miguel Camargo and Ronald Matarrita expected to be out for the rest of the season, one expects the NYCFC front office to be scouring the transfer markets to add depth to the roster.

It is worth noting that Miguel Camargo is at NYCFC on loan. As of the time of this writing, NYCFC has yet to make a statement on the injury.

[…] their national teams carrying injuries. Wallace is expected to miss 2-3 weeks, while Camargo is very likely done for the season. James Sands will be out for five weeks following an ASIS Apophysitis injury. Add to those the […]